For players and organizers alike, speed tournaments can be immensely fun and very exciting. However, until now, they have proven to be difficult to organize and get off the ground. There is great potential to increase the prevalence of this very under-used tournament format. We are therefore introducing measures to support Tournament Organizers so that more speed tournaments can take place.

Successful speed tournaments require committed, flexible and well prepared Tournament Organizers. It is our policy that we will provide support to Tournament Organizers who can demonstrate these characteristics.

This policy includes introducing specific speed tournament requirements (see below). They have been designed to help ensure Tournament Organizers are fully prepared, organized and supported when arranging a speed tournament.

We are well aware that, with speed tournaments being in their infancy, organizers may create innovative new formats and systems which may prove to be successful. Therefore, if Tournament Organizers feel that these requirements are hindering them in any way they are urged to contact the relevant Tournament Directors who will be happy to review individual items, change policy, or grant exemptions if they deem it to be appropriate and beneficial to the community.

Where feasible, DJ is also happy to provide on-line support during the 'live' phase of your tournament.

In addition, well prepared speed tournaments will be provided with a little extra help in recruiting. As you may have noticed, speed tournaments take priority in the Tournament tab listings and, in certain cases, it may be possible to provide home-page public announcements the day before speed tournaments take place. This will continue until such a time that we feel that speed tournaments have become sufficiently popular and regular that this additional promotion is no longer required.

We hope to bring further future developments, such as more multi-organizer speed events and, in the long term, we hope that an increase in speed tournaments will merit creating a speed tournament calender as well as specific forum and sign-up areas.

Speed tournaments must fulfill the same requirements as casual tournaments. There must be a minimum of 16 players signed-up for the tournament in order for privileges to be granted. Similarly, speed tournament must require players to play at least 3 games in order to win the tournament.

Change from the requirements for casual tournaments:

Speed tournaments should not involve a points restriction. Whilst all players have a wide choice of casual tournaments available, limited numbers of speed tournaments means they are required to be as inclusive as possible.

Additional requirements for speed tournaments:

In order to be prepared for the fast-paced administration required at the 'live' stage of a speed tournament, organizers must have previously organized and completed 3 casual tournaments.

To benefit from the support of experienced co-organizers, speed tournament organizers are required to become members of the Tournament Organizers Usergroup (membership of the group can be quickly arranged and does not involve any additional responsibilities for organizers but is a source of support).

To ensure speed tournament organizers fully understand how speed games of differing formats work (and long they may last), they should have achieved at least a bronze speed medal and played 50 speed games.

To ensure players have reasonable notice of upcoming tournaments, speed tournaments must be advertised in the Create/Join a Tournament forum at least 5 days before they are scheduled to take place.

To ensure players attend the tournament at the correct time, Tournament Organizers should use Conquer Club Time (as opposed to their own time zone). Players should be provided with a link to the world clock time conversion tool so they can check they will be available. This can be done by simply typing the tournament's fixed starting date and time (in CC time) surrounded by tags like this:

To make it entirely clear that CC time differs from most players' time zones, please state that players should click the link. For example: "As CC time is likely to differ from your own time zone, please click the link." Be sure to note that unless you live in the same timezone as CC Time, you will have to first convert your time to CC Time before posting it for the public.

Tournament Organizers must also indicate when the tournament will be finished so that players can determine if they will be available for the full duration. The latest start time of the final game should be indicated as well as a contingency if the tournament over-runs (e.g. "final games will be casual settings if the tournament overruns and players have to leave for other commitments"). As a general rule, it is advisable to allow 20 minutes to get the tournament started and at least one hour per round for a 'bracket'-style tournament (this will of course vary according to settings, maps and player numbers).

Maps and settings will be subject to Tournament Director approval. Firstly, this is because some speed tournament formats have tight time-schedules which can be ensured with the correct maps and settings. Secondly, until such a time as there are a plethora of speed tournaments available to players, use of 'specialist' maps should be minimised to ensure speed tournaments are as inclusive as possible.

The timing and duration of speed tournaments is also subject to Tournament Director approval (in order to avoid clashes if more than one tournament is planned for the same time period).

To ensure Tournament Directors have sufficient time to grant privileges, speed tournaments must be notified as 'full' (in the topic title) at least 24 hours before they are scheduled to take place.

To ensure maximum participation and to cater for players being absent, Tournament Organizers should post contingency plans for differing numbers of players. For example, if a tournament is planned to run with 20 players, then the Tournament Organizer must show awareness that he or she will be able to adapt the tournament format should more, or less, players attend on the day of the tournament. This is particularly vital with 1 vs 1 bracket tournament as it is highly unlikely that exactly 32 or 16 players will attend at the start time.

In addition, Tournament Organizers are required to state in their tournament thread how they will recruit reserves / additional players close to the tournament start time. This may involve using the Callouts section of Live Chat. posting in Game Chat in Active Speed Games or creating (Some) Games with the game password stated in the game label.

Further requirements for continuous speed tournaments (where games take place over a 24/7 period):

Tournament Organisers must also introduce contingency plans for this type of tournament to cater for players having difficulties arranging to be on-line to play one another at the same time.

'Hybrid' tournaments:

Should organizers wish to create 'hybrid' tournaments involving a speed phase and a casual phase then the relevant requirements will apply to each phase of the tournament.

This style of tournament may be preferable for 1 vs 1 bracket tournaments given the difficulty highlighted above.

Exceptions:

Exceptions will be considered by the Tournament Director responsible for speed tournaments where a Tournament Organiser meets the majority of requiremens as is able to provide a detailed tournament plan that has a high probability of success.